Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hale County This Morning, This Evening is probably the best antithesis of last year’s Green Book. A visually captivating search for alternative ways to represent black bodies, which is to say the African-American minority. With a very loose structure, an associative montage and musical rhythm. No conflicts, no drama, no white people. Nothing that you would expect from a movie with a racial subtext. Just life the way it is lived. As RaMell Ross explained after a screening, a white American audience found the film boring because nothing happens in it, because it was just a sequence of everyday scenes. African-Americans, on the other hand, appreciated the fact that someone viewed them primarily as people, not as members of a particular ethnic group defined by skin color and burdened with numerous stereotypes. It is good to be aware of the kind of thought patterns and expectations with which we approach the narratives of members of a given culture. With its concept (unlike Green Book, it does not reinforce myths, but rather dismantles them; it does not lead to anything specific, does not assert anything definitive, and does not judge anyone), Hale County provides an excellent starting point. (15/03/2019)